Friends & Other Unrealistic Dreams
by Glitter Poisoned My Blood
Summary: Oneshot: "I enjoyed the meetings, too. It was like having friends," said Luna. If they only knew the truth, and gravity of the situation... Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter onesided.


This story is based on the quote: "I enjoyed the meetings, too. It was like having friends." - Luna Lovegood from The Half-Blood Prince.

* * *

Luna Lovegood grew up alone. Xeno, as much as he loved his daughter, was never around. Luna relied solely on her mother, Selene. When she died that fateful January day when Luna was nine, it was like the world stopped.

Luna would sit next to her mother's grave for hours at a time without saying anything. Xeno mourned himself. He stayed inside and watched water boil. Neither Lovegood spoke for a good month. Selene had been the cheer in the house, and for the first time since Luna was born, the house was silent.

When Luna was ten, the life in her slowly came back, switching on her will to live.

She walked into her mother's lab, which had not been opened since she had died, and looked around.

She found years of her mother's work, experiments, and ideas.

Like nargles. She found her mother's discovery of nargles.

That was when Luna decided that she was going to follow her mother's footsteps. The already strange Luna, became even more odd and quirky. She was her mother's daughter. She loved her mother. Her beautiful, kind mother.

On her first day at Hogwarts, Luna was more excited about anything than she had been in a very long while.

_Friends!_

But it was not to be.

Not a single person was friendly to Luna, save Ginny Weasley. They were awful to her, thinking she was crazy. They gave her a nickname, Loony Lovegood. They would hide her things, write nasty notes and leave them around. They would prank her constantly, and whenever she went into her dorm to go to bed, the sheets were never there. She was forced to go around the castle to get her sheets back in order to sleep, barefoot, because they took her shoes.

Luna didn't mind much. Ginny was nice to her. Ginny was her friend. Everyone was her friend, but she wasn't everyone's friend.

So Luna spent her time in the forest, feeding the animals, or in the library, reading, to pass the time. She was a good student, never did anything wrong.

Often, she would just do her work, see the forest, and then sleep. On weekends when they had Hogsmeade, she would go by herself to Madam Rosemerta's, and watch as everyone else shared laughs with their friends, while she sat at the bar in the corner seat, without a person nearby. When she went into Honeyduke's, she could wait at the register for hours, before someone realized she was there, or that she was speaking.

She felt invisible.

Then she would go straight back to the castle, and look in the mirror.

_Why don't I have friends?_

Often times, she would see the Golden Trio lurking around the school after curfew, doing their heroic stunts. A few times, she saw them in the Forbidden Forest. During her third year, she had suggested to Cedric Diggory, the possibility of the egg having to be under water. She had known he would tell Harry. Of course, she had heard all about Harry Potter and his two companions, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. She had never met Hermione or Harry, though, only Ron. They did live close by after all. And the Lovegoods were anything but bad neighbors.

Then, in her fourth year, something positively amazing happened. She met Harry Potter. He was charming, she thought, and nice. Not many people were nice. Especially not to the Loony Lovegood girl. Luna felt liked for a time. He sought her out to speak to her, and he started conversation with her.

He seemed interested in what she had to say. He didn't roll her eyes when she spoke. He didn't call her 'Loony'. He didn't taunt her. He didn't call her crazy. He was nice.

_He's my friend._

Luna enjoyed fourth year more than any before or after it. She finally had friends_, real friends!_ Harry was her best friend. He didn't look at her the way that everyone else did. He was nice.

She loved him. How did she know she loved him? The feeling. She never felt upset around him. She couldn't wait to see him again…

She liked Harry a lot, but he liked Cho Chang.

Cho was mean. There were very few people that Luna thought were mean. After Cho had taken Luna's wand and hidden it from her with her friend Marietta for a whole five days, Luna had decided she didn't like her. Cho was mean. Especially to Luna.

She didn't know how Harry couldn't see it. Hermione saw it, of course; Luna knew that, but she would never say anything to her best friend about Cho.

_I can still see him in the DA._

Suddenly, a terrible thought entered Luna's usually calm head, _what if Umbridge ended the DA_?

Did no more DA mean no more friends?

_Probably._

_Loony Lovegood, the lunatic with no friends._

_That's me._

For the rest of the year, she continued to watch Harry from afar, until one day, Hermione Granger walked up to her. "Luna, if you like him, you should say something." She promptly walked away, leaving Luna alone in the Room of Requirement.

_I won't say anything. I'll lose my best friend… I like having a friend… I need a friend. I won't say anything. I'll lose my best friend. I don't want to lose my best friend. I won't say anything… It will be a secret, like with a friend._

In the end, Umbridge ended the DA, Luna fought Death Eaters and the year ended more excitedly than it had in a long time. She said 'bye' to Harry and Ginny, and rushed home for the summer.

It was a good year.

She had been happy.

_But no more friends_, she whispered to herself. _Fool, why did you think you would get any in the first place?_

Now, in her fifth year, she sat with Harry, "I enjoyed the meetings, too. It was like having friends."

If only they knew.

* * *

Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!


End file.
